- How to Keep Your List of Friends Private
- How to Make Your Profile and Timeline Private
- How to Limit Who Sees your Posts and Photos
By default, Facebook tends to make everything you put on its network fairly public. Most information in your profile, for example, is totally public--viewable in Google search results and to everyone on Facebook, even if they're not your friend or even a friend of a friend. Facebook critics see this as an invasion of people's right to privacy.
The same default public setting applies to your friends list; by default, anyone can see who your friends are, even if they are not your Facebook friend. It's a good idea to change this, but Facebook doesn't make it easy.
Make Facebook Private By Changing Default Sharing to "Friends"
Even before you change your privacy options for your friends list, profile and posts, the very first thing you should do is make sure your default sharing option on Facebook is set to "Friends" and not "Public." By default, Facebook sets it to "Public," which requires you to change it to "Friends" when you post something if you only want your friends to see it.
So it's a good idea to reset this default, which is shown in the image at the top of this page. Access it by clicking "privacy settings" in the drop-down menu at the top right of your Facebook home page. Then make sure the center option--"Friends"--is checked as shown in the image above. This article can help you learn more about how the basic Facebook privacy settings work.
